The phrase “mare’s nest” is not used a lot these days. This is in contrast to the equivalent in Bengali, “asvadimba” (অশ্বডিম্ব) or “ghorar dim” (ঘোড়ার ডিম) which are both still commonly used to express disbelief at nonsense or fraud.

A more direct translation into English gives us something like “horse-egg.” Well, I searched for the proverbial egg and found that it is a common motif in pysanka, a type of Ukranian Easter egg decoration that relies on writing with wax. In parts of Eastern Europe, the horse is popular because it symbolizes both strength and prosperity.

In fact there are quite a few pictures of “horse-eggs” on the internet including one that is quite intricate.

With Christmas just around the corner, I’ve decided that I want a “ghorar dim,” and not just any will do. I want a stallion breaking out of an egg on a sweatshirt. If anyone wants to give one to me as a gift, I can tell you that you’ll find one online here.

A report in the Times of India states that in Delhi anyone over the age of 21 can serve drinks at bar and restaurants in the state due to new legislation, but they still cannot legally drink until they turn 25! I am not saying that the validity of this ludicrous law has any real-world implications, but it is amusing when you consider the fact that in India, anyone 18 or older can vote. In addition, women and men can get legally married at the ages of 18 and 21, respectively.

As this years Nobel Laureates collect their prizes, a post in The Great Beyond mentions that winners in future years might actually get less prize money. The Nature blog quotes a story in Reuters which states that the Nobel Foundation has taken a 20% hit in assets due to the global recession.

On Twitter, Jason Snyder pointed out that a downsized Nobel was better than a confiscated one, to which I commented that a confiscated one was still better than a stolen one.

For those that aren’t up on their Nobel news, Jason was referring to Iranian Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi’s charge that officials had seized her award, a charge which Iran subsequently denied. I was talking about Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s medal which was stolen in 2004. The police recently decided to close all investigations in that particular theft.

Clearly, not all Nobel Prizes are equal.

Here, you’ll find my list of how Nobel Prizes stack up on an arbitrary, but scientific-looking scale.

For the extra-inquisitive, I’ll add that Jean-Paul Sartre was the first person to decline a Nobel. Mahatma Gandhi, on the other hand was not deemed worthy by the Nobel Committee for the Peace Prize. Of course, Alfred Nobel who started the Nobel Peace Prize, invented dynamite.

Update: Iran recently returned Ms. Ebadi’s medal. How can you return something if you had not taken it away in the first place?